The devourer

https://odb.org/2024/05/27/when-its-time

We need to recognise and be aware that besides our own fleshy and selfish desires, there is someone else out there encouraging us not to follow God on the narrow path to righteousness. He tempts and seduces us to take the more common path favoured by most people. The path of least resistance. For some, this path may lead to worldly riches and fame – the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. He is the devil, and together with his cohorts, their mission in life is to deceive as many souls as possible to join them in the lake of fire where there is gnashing of teeth. A place of eternal damnation instead of eternal life as promised by our Lord Jesus Christ to those who believed in Him and hold on to the faith until the very end.

I think one of the most important elements to preempt and avoid attempts of the evil one to deceive and ensnare us is our own desires of the flesh and self. We need to put our trust in the Lord and surrender our life and future here on earth unto Him for His plans for us is not to harm us but to prosper us and give us a hope and a future Jeremiah 29:11. The devil will continue to tempt, seduce, entice, and deceive us. We can not stop him as that is his nature. But we must not give him a helping hand. We must never make his job easier.

One of the most effective ways I believe is to surrender our own desires to God. Let the Lord sanctify our desires, ambitions, and motives. Let all that we do always be for Christ, and we would have won 90% of the battle with the devil. Submit yourselves to the LORD and resist the devil, and he will flee from you James 4:7.

Therefore, my dear friends and beloved brethren, be alert and of sober mind as Peter teaches in 1 Peter 5:8. We must always be ready and be discernful if anything is not right. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God Philippians 4:6. In everything, give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

Have a good week ahead and fulfil God’s plans for our lives! Give thanks for His goodness and mercy upon our lives. May He grant us wisdom and discernment in all that we do for Him for His kingdom and at work, that we may relate to others with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!

Discipline by the Father

https://odb.org/2024/05/24/correction-with-a-kiss

To me, the touching part of Hebrews 12:10 is that God disciplines us so that we may share in His holiness. He corrects us because He loves us. He corrects us so that we don’t go too far astray that we end up losing our inheritance in the saints. If we are not on the narrow path that leads to righteousness, we will never be able to complete the race and cross the finish line. We will eventually die like everyone else, but we will not be at the place of eternal life when we cross over. We will not get to live in the new heaven and new earth as revealed to John in Revelation 21 as Eden recreated is only for those who are righteous and holy, redeemed by the blood of Christ but also who had walked the path of righteousness while on earth.

Hebrews 10:11 speaks of discipline being painful and unpleasant, but it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. The fruit of discipline is that we get to share in God’s holiness. There are just no two ways about this. Either we are holy and righteous before God, or we are not. But most importantly, Hebrews 10 also speaks of God disciplining us because we are true children of God. We are the legitimate and true children of God, birthed through the blood of Christ on the Cross of Calvary.

If we are going through some hardship in our walk of faith, it could perhaps be a time the Lord is teaching us a lesson or two on perseverance and faithfulness. Perhaps we need some time to repent of our sins. Perhaps we need time to reflect on the condition of our hearts. Perhaps we had not been as pure and blameless as we ought to be. Perhaps there are still areas in our lives where we have not surrendered to Him.

Whatever may our situation be, if we are being disciplined by God, accept it and know that God is doing this because He loves us and wants us to share in His holiness. He doesn’t want us to lose out in His plans and purposes for our lives. Like the cunning and conniving Jacob, we need to yield to God and become Israel so that God may use us effectively for His glory!

The awe and splendour of God’s creation

https://odb.org/2024/05/23/look-to-the-skies

I think every now and then we should go out there into the world and travel to see the wonders of creation. Travel not just to see places and immerse in other cultures and way of life but to see and enjoy the wonders of nature as created by God. Of course, easy ones are just seeing the awe and splendour of sunrises and sunsets. As we marvel at their majestic hue, we will perhaps realise there are more to our lives here on earth than the sometimes overwhelming challenges we face. Perhaps we will realise we are more resiliently made than we think we are and that Jesus is surely able to strengthen us to face our challenges in life.

I digress, but more than a decade ago, I recalled attending a talk at a seminary, and when I asked about the young earth that some appeared to believe in, the speaker belittled me for not knowing about it. I thought it was uncalled for as different people are at different stages in their spiritual journeys, and some may not be interested in trying to rationalise the existence of dinasours against the so called 6,000 years age of the earth.

Anyway, since then, I have read about this young earth creationism (YEC) theory and belief and I nevertheless still believe today that as much as Scripture is the Word of God and can not be untrue (infallible), Genesis 1 and 2 are not meant to be read the way that these YEC people are advocating. Last night, I found something more acceptable, and to those who are interested, please refer to the following:

https://realfaith.com/what-christians-believe/old-earth/

The message this morning, I believe, is that we should believe that God created this earth and everything in it, and as we marvel upon His great power and outstretched arm, we know that nothing is too difficult for Him as Jeremiah proclaimed in Jeremiah 32:17. God is able to reach out to us in His outstretched hands and help us through the tough and difficult situations we face. The important thing is that He is our God, and we are His people! For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Esau and Jacob

https://odb.org/2024/05/21/a-warm-embrace

The ancient bible story of Esau and Jacob was interesting because the antagonist appeared to have prevailed against the innocent. Esau was tricked into giving up his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup, and later, their father, the Patriach Isaac, was tricked by Jacob and his mother, to give his blessings for the elder son to Jacob, the younger one. Isaac’s blessings, which are the blessings of the father, had natural, spiritual, and prophetic significance.

https://www.gotquestions.org/fathers-blessing.html

As the story goes, Isaac had Joseph, and the whole clan was subsequently saved from the great famine and settled in Egypt. Over 400 years, they became slaves to the Egyptians, and the LORD raised Moses to bring them all out from Egypt back to Canaan across the Red Sea and the wilderness. Thus, from the antagonist, Isaac became the protagonist because it was his line that led to the birth of King David, and many years later, our dearest Lord Jesus Christ.

But the story of Esau and Jacob was not actually a story where the bad guy had won the day. This is because in Genesis 35, Jacob wrestled with an angel (it was actually God Himself) and emerged as Israel. The cunning and conniving Jacob became Israel (“let God prevail”). In other words, Jacob, like us modern-day Christians, had a life transformation moment and became someone of use to God. Additionally, in Genesis 33, Esau, although he was deprived of his birthright as well as the father’s blessings, was kind and merciful enough to accept Jacob’s deference and peace offering and forgave him. All the key virtues that we were taught in our faith were present in the life story of Esau and Jacob, which goes to show that there is redemption in God despite our past.

We might have done some terrible things in the past, like Jacob. Nevertheless, if we repent from our sins, the Lord will forgive us. Most importantly, if we relent and let God prevail in our lives, we can become like Jacob transforming into Israel and will be of much use to the Almighty God, the Great I Am. It is a moment everyone of us need to go through for the spiritual breakthrough that we may have been seeking!

The good old times

https://odb.org/2024/05/20/longing-for-the-past

Sometimes, we like to reminisce and dwell in our past memories. I think not so much in our past successes but more to the nostalgic era where time was not moving as fast as the present. Times when we were younger and still discovering the world. Our early working days, feeling our way in the world. My chambering days and early practice years after graduating from university. Perhaps God was more real then – as we were relying more on Him? In our innocence, we looked more eagerly to God in prayer, in desperation. We were going through what perhaps our children are going through now.

The Israelites in exile in Babylon also longed for the past. But when they were in Israel before they were captured, they believed in the sweet messages of all the false prophets prophesying good times and prosperity despite their disobedience to God. They just couldn’t see that their lives were incompatible with the message. They ignored Jeremiah, who bore the message of doom and threw him in prison into a pit. Jeremiah suffered greatly to bring God’s true and genuine message to the Israelites.

Whatever may have been in the past, it’s in the past. Those times are long gone. They may not be relived again. We are nearer to the grave than 30 years ago. If we were at the start of our careers then, we are now at the tailend. We should be planning for our retirement. Should we be living in a small apartment in the city or on a piece of modest land in the country? How will we be continuing our service for God? Do we go for mission trips to help out God’s work in other places since we are no longer bound by the constraints of full-time employment? Or should we make our local church our mission field?

I think the message this morning is to look ahead to the new things God is doing in our midst through Christ. We are much older and about to retire. Ask and seek the Lord as to His plans for us for the next 30 years. What does He want us to do? How should we serve Him? Should we be a missionary in a foreign land or to East Malaysia or rural Malaysia? Should we write a book? Should we build a farm to prepare for the Great Tribulation? The answer may not be apparent immediately, but as Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Better to be with Christ

https://odb.org/2024/05/17/a-change-of-venue

I was down with a cold and a bad cough with fever the past few days and thus was not able to write. I am now recovering with antibiotics and some good cough mixture.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 is a well-known passage from Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. It speaks of him prefering to be with the Lord than remain in this earthen tent as the former is in heaven, the place where God dwells. Also, being with the Lord means that we will one day be clothe with our glorified body, which is incorruptible, unlike our current earthly body. Yet he knows that if we remain in our earthly tent, we are to please the Lord because a time will come when we will need to give an account of our lives at the judgement seat of Christ (also known as the Bema seat of Christ), whether good or bad.

That to me, verse 10 is the crux of 2 Corinthians 5. It is not for us to decide when we are to leave this world and enter into the heavenly realm to be with the Lord, but in the meantime, we must please God with our lives. Unlike some faith, perhaps some among them wrongly teach their adherents that one may die for God by killing enemies of the faith as a kind of backdoor entry into heaven. As our fight is never against flesh and blood, people indoctrinated this way will be horrified to learn on the other side that taking the life of another human being can never be the basis of salvation. Jesus said before -“I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

We don’t know for sure when the world will end, although many believe it will not be too far away before Christ returns in all His glory. If we leave earlier, our loved ones will miss us because once we depart, we will no longer be a part of this world. We will, of course, be happy to be with the Lord and leave the worries of life and the struggles of living behind us. Until that day comes, we need to do our part to please God to ensure that we are able to give a good account to Christ whether we had lived a life fulfilling His calling for us, His plans and purposes for our lives. Have we been that brick, He had specially chosen and prepared as part of the universal church with our unique talents and giftings? Once our earthen life ends, we can not do anything more for God in this world, even if we want to. Remember that…

Enjoying life

https://odb.org/2024/05/14/savoring-the-moment

When I was a young believer, I was taught to serve God and not enjoy life. This teaching came across as though both are mutually exclusive concepts, like war and peace can not exist at the same time. But as I grew older, I realised that we could actually find a balance in most things. For example, nowadays, people speak of work-life balance. Thus, even in pursuing our career goals, we can find time to serve God and pursue our other interests in life.

Time is, of course, a limited commodity. Everyone only has 24 hours to a day. There is just so much we can do within the hours, and we still need to rest and sleep for our bodies to recuperate and recharge. Therefore, in our many pursuits, we need to let go of some to focus on others. For example, if we are a national badminton player or a full-time professional athlete, certain ordinary things like enjoying a mug of beer and eating junk or unhealthy food would have to wait until we retire from competitive sports as we need to continuously train and maintain ourselves in the most optimum physical condition. Similarly, if we are saving up to buy a house or to pay off our mortgage, we may need to postpone holidays abroad or drive an older car. I recalled that when our boys first arrived, we stopped going to the movies. We only restarted going to the movies when they were old enough to go with us, and it became a really enjoyable weekend family outing with popcorns, soft drinks, and other snacks!

In Ecclesiastes 8:15, King Solomon advocates that life is to be enjoyed. He wrote, “I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and be glad.” He had written that life is vanity or meaningless. Nevertheless, Solomon advocated that life becomes meaningful when lived for God. We don’t just cease to exist after we perish as there is life after death. The question is whether we will live a better or worse life after.

The message this morning is that we must always find a balance in all things. It can be found. The enjoyment of life may be pursued without guilt as the good things in life itself are created by God. We should eat, drink and be glad! It’s just that as believers, we also need to serve God and fulfil our calling in Christ and God’s plans and purposes for our lives. Therefore, our aim in life can not be to enjoy life only. There must be a balance in the same way we pursue work-life balance.

Speak only what God says

https://odb.org/2024/05/13/a-solitary-voice

“I can only tell him what my God says.” That was what the prophet Micaiah said when advised by an aide of King Ahab to align with what the other 400 prophets were saying on Israel’s impending victory against the Arameans. Micaiah was the lone solitary voice prophesying doom for Israel and the only true voice representing God. He could only proclaim what the LORD spoke to him despite it not being in line with popular thought then. You can read this in 2 Chronicles 18.

In the church, we face this issue all the time when speaking from the pulpit. There is perhaps no need to always be scolding people for their lackadaisical attitude towards spiritual matters and service for God. Yet we must not sugar-coat our message to make it presentable to more people. If it’s merely a question of presentation, that’s an art form by itself. But the truth must be told as it is. For example, eternal damnation is a reality for those who professed the sinner’s prayer but continued in life as a believer only in name.

In the world, popular thought is that all faiths teach good things, and thus, as there are many roads to Rome, there are many roads to heaven. But Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him” (John 14:6). Jesus also said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25).

Or in the West now, agender acceptance is popular and politically correct, and Scriptures  have been reinterpreted by some to align with such acceptance. In fact, same sex marriages are increasingly becoming the norm and legalised in more jurisdictions. Jesus also predicted that as in the days of Noah were, so shall the coming of the Son of man be (Matthew 24:37). As people go about living life with little regard for God and His percepts, but only with their own preoccupations and their own way of life, Jesus will come again to herald the end of time and usher in the day of the Lord.

We must always speak the truth only, even though sometimes the truth may not be pleasant or something others want to hear. Whether in ordinary conversations or preaching a sermon, we can only speak of what the LORD says to us.

Blessed Mother’s Day!

https://odb.org/2024/05/12/leaving-a-spiritual-legacy

2 Timothy 1:3-5 is well known for the exaltation and salutation given by Paul to his protégé Timothy’s grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice, for Timothy’s faith. Paul recognised the roles played by mothers and grandmothers in the development of Timothy’s faith over the years. The legacy of their faith.

Even though I didn’t become a Catholic, I could see the strong influence my own paternal grandmother had on the family when it came to the faith. In fact, in my youth, I had followed her to church a couple of times, and there was a time when I contemplated joining the Catholic church. That didn’t materialise as I only stayed with her briefly in Ipoh during school holidays, and later, when we moved to Kelantan, we only went back to Ipoh once a year or less.

I could see in my own darling wife how she is always praying for our sons and how the spiritual lives of our sons are always of utmost concern to her despite the many things occupying her attention at work. She is always speaking and praying about their faith and where they are in God, whether they will survive the Great Tribulation when it comes, with God’s grace and mercy.

My own late mother was always praying for my sister and I when she was alive, especially when I was travelling abroad. In fact, I believe my walk in the faith was always covered by her in her prayers. She was indeed a faithful, devoted, and strong intercessor for God!

Mothers are different from fathers, I guess, because they are more intense on things and have a faithfulness to God that is unrivalled. Their love and devotion are steadfast, like how the love and faithfulness of God never ceases. There is a steady devotion in all mothers, and today, we want to celebrate and salute them for who they are and who they are in Christ!

Blessed Mother’s Day to all mothers! Jesus sees the desires of your heart for your children, and I pray along with you that our Heavenly Father will make those desires come to pass in His time! Amen!

Saved by grace

https://odb.org/2024/05/10/trying-to-save-ourselves

A fundamental tenet of our Christian faith is that salvation is by grace, the grace of God through faith as a gift from God, not by works – as expounded by Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9. In verse 10, Paul continues that we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.

This is in sharp contrast to the weighing scale method of good deeds versus bad, propagated by other faiths where an evaluation is performed on judgment day to determine salvation or damnation. Although logical on the face of it, its inherent weakness is that its practitioners may commit even atrocities and still be saved if they have done enough to atone for their sins.

The Christian’s view, however, is akin to that of a man caught in a quicksand. There is nothing that man can do to avoid drowning as the more he moves, the deeper he sinks. We all know that only someone above and beyond the quicksand can save that drowning man, whether to throw a tree branch or a rope. In this context, God, in His love for mankind and His grace, sent His only Son to be that rope to pull mankind out from the downward spiral of eternal damnation.

Ephesians 2:10, as taught by Paul, is key to understanding justification by faith. Once saved, we are primed to do good works, as the same has already been prepared in advance by God for us. It’s not a combination of good and bad deeds on a scale, but only good works.

Thus, in Romans 12:1-2, Paul teaches that, in view of God’s mercy, we are to become a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. We should no longer be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we may test and approve the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

By His grace, God has saved us through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The death and resurrection of Christ have reconciled us to God and place us on the trajectory to eternal life, the narrow path of “right side up living” in an upside down world. Strive on and persevere towards the goal God has prepared us in Christ Jesus. Don’t give up. When the going gets tough, the redeemed of Christ gets going!